Living Without Meat

This week I interviewed and am training a new summer employee of the Humane League. She will be canvassing for us by going out into the city, telling people about the nonprofit, and asking people to sign up for our mailing list and make a small donation.

While preparing this position, I have realized that this is an excellent way for anyone to get involved in their favorite animal advocacy organization. I can only assume that most groups, like the Humane League, are always looking to bring in more money and would love to have a dedicated, enthusiastic person to help them fund-raise.

Now you can’t just start asking people on the street to give you money for a nonprofit; while the organization will appreciate the funds, they won’t appreciate having someone represent them without their approval. So here is what I recommend doing if you would like to canvass for an animal advocacy group:

1. Research the nonprofit that you are interested in. Learn about how they got started, how long they have been around, and what some of their campaigns are. Being able to answer questions is a must for street canvassing. Plus, the organization will want to make sure you know and agree with their mission.

2. Find out all the legalities of canvassing. The main thing to remember is that you need to be on public property. When I go to a new location, I talk to the manager and ask them.

3. Determine exactly how you are looking to help. Figure out how many hours you are interested in working, where you would go (outside of grocery stores is a great location), and how much your goal would be ($20 in donations per hour is our average).

4. Approach the nonprofit under the pretenses that you are interested in helping them raise money. Ask them if they canvass or if they would be interested in having you do some canvassing for them.

5. Contact me with questions or for more help by leaving a comment below!

After watching a little boy pulverize a bug earlier this week, at the encouragement of his mother, I have been thinking more and more about raising children that are vegan, animal lovers, respectful of life, and generally good additions to the human race. I’m not a mother myself, but I certainly have lots of kids in my life: I babysit regularly for three siblings, and have a niece, a nephew, and one on the way any minute now. But while I am close to an expert on caring for kids, I am not an authority on raising vegan ones. For that, you’ll have to turn to other resources such as …

* The Girlie Girl Army put together a thorough collection of resources for “How to Raise Socially Responsible Rugrats” that spans the realms of respect for animals and the environment, and includes games, toys, foods, activities, and more.

* VegFamily Magazine takes you from pregnancy to teenager with everything you need to know about having veg children through articles, recipes, tips from dieticians, a message board, and videos.

* Family Education has a great article, “Raising ‘Green’ Kids,” with educational and fun activities and suggestions for helping kids understand and appreciate the Earth.

* The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) has a section all about “Raising a Vegetarian Family”that includes links to several articles from Vegetarian Journal.

* Sending your kids to the right sites helps. Check out the kids clubs for animal-loving organizations such as Farm Sanctuary and PETA.

* If you want to go offline in your learning, check out what Amazon.com has to offer.

My knowledge of vegan pop culture failed me this week: I missed wishing a happy birthday to well-known, outspoken vegan advocates!

Tuesday, June 9, was the 28th birthday of the gorgeously adorable, much-loved vegan princess Natalie Portman. Then, two days later on Thursday, June 11, it was PETA President Ingrid Newkirk’s 60th birthday celebration!

Celebrating a vegan birthday in your social network? Here are some good vegan birthday cake recipes and ideas to try:

* Figure out to convert your favorite non-vegan cake recipe with the Vegetarian Resource Group’s replacement guide.

* Read up about how the Veg Family satisfies their vegan kids, complete with Elmo cakes and homemade ice cream!

* Isa of the Post Punk Kitchen has included a wealth of cake and icing recipes available on her site.

* For vegan cupcakes, you simply must head over to Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but Vegan CupCake Recipes is a close second resource.

But birthdays are not just about the cake. Growing up, we always got to pick what we wanted to eat for our birthday dinner. I always chose one of three meals: Scalloped potatoes, homemade mac and cheese with breadcrumbs, or kabobs. The last is fairly easy to veganize, but I have never attempted to do so with either of the first two. Try one of there recipes to make a vegan version of my favorite birthday dinner:

* FatFree Vegan and Karina’s Kitchen have good vegan scalloped potato recipes.

* Everyone calls their vegan mac and cheese “the best,” including posters at Recipezaar and VegWeb. Vegan Yum Yum has a yummy sounding one, too.

Keep up with all of the vegan celebrities’ birthdays with Vegetarian Star’s regular feature, “Slice of Vegan Birthday Cake to ….”

I am in week three of my training for a half marathon. I haven’t chosen a race yet: there is the ING Philadelphia run in September or the Philadelphia Marathon in November. Either way, my total goal is 13.1 miles and so far I am up to between four and five miles - a pretty good point to be at this early on.

But I have been running in cheap sneakers, which will certainly not help me reach my goal injury- and pain-free. So yesterday I splurged on new running gear (with a little monetary help from my dad).

I went to a local specialty store, Philadelphia Runner, and had a sales guy watch me walk and analyze my feet to recommend a few pairs. “Oh, and I’m vegan,” I added when he brought me six pairs, “so they need to be leather-free.”

He thought that would be a problem. Ha! He didn’t know off hand what any of the shoes were made of, but after examining them I found that all six were vegan! I also learned that apparently the universal symbols of shoe materials are not common knowledge. So please, let me share with you a little secret about reading shoe labels …

Universal Shoe Material Symbols

A picture that looks much like an animal hide means just that; this drawing means that the shoes contain leather. If there were a diamond inside of this bearskin rug, it would mean coated leather.

This crosspatch design represents fabric or textile. This is a symbol that you want to look for.

Then there is also the all encompassing diamond by itself that stands for “other materials.”

No, the system is not perfect. There is certainly room for some animal products to get classified as “other,” I am sure. But I try not to drive myself insane with worry over labels.

Compassion Over Killing (COK) is calling on the public to pledge to avoid eating eggs for the month of May, the month that the egg industry has dubbed as National Egg Month in efforts to keep sales up after the busy Easter season. Take the COK egg-free pledge today - regardless of how many other animal products you do or don’t eat - to show your support for the hardworking, mistreated hens (and the baby boy chicks that are chopped up alive or smothered in the trash).

When you take the pledge, COK will be sure to provide you with everything that you need to continue cooking, baking, and eating without eggs. You’re “Cracking the Habit” package will come in the mail just a few days after you sign up, and will include coupons for great vegan condiments, a vegetarian how-to guide, stickers, and if you are one of the first 200 to sign up, a copy of VegNews magazine.

There are more delicious sounding and looking vegan and raw recipes out there than I will ever be able to try out. I am constantly coming across new ones before I even have time to taste the previous ones. Here are some of the online recipes that I have stumbled upon recently and have added to my “I want to make this” list:

* Chef Ani Phyo put together a raw vegan donut hole using nuts, vanilla bean, coconut, pineapple, and dates. The FatFree Vegan Kitchen also whipped up another donut option. These fat-free mini donuts are vegan, but not raw.

* VegNews award-winning blog Vegan Yum Yum created some homemade vegetable tempura that looks exactly what you’d order at a restaurant, except you can be sure that yours wasn’t cooked in the same oil as the meat tempura!

* The Living and Raw Foods Community has hundreds of raw vegan versions of all the classics, including soups, breads, cereal, desserts, and so much more. The Best of Raw Food also have a fairly extensive collection of basic raw vegan ideas.

* Rawmazing has cacao vanilla banana walnut crepes that look so good I would happily eat them for dessert, and I imagine any dairy lover would just as easily flip for them.

* Hello Veggie blog has its own new list of 20 great vegan meals.

* I figured out the Happy Vegetarian’s secret - she’s clearly in a good mood because of her no-bake peanut butter tartelettes, which has a similar concept as my own raw apple pie.

GNC makes me happier every time I visit a store. First, my regular GNC of choice stocked more vegan meal bars based on my suggestion. And now there’s even more: KeriBars and a full range of veg food.

With the influx of vegan bars came two flavors of KeriBar, a brand that I had never heard of before. The apple peanut butter one is good, but I haven’t tried the strawberry chocolate chip flavor because of a labeling mistake. On the front, the bar says “vegan,” but the allergen warnings on the back say “contains milk.” After contacting KeriBar, I can now try this delicious-sounding bar because they have assured me that, despite the printing err, there is no milk in any KeriBars.

Yesterday I visited a different location. I felt like I was cheating, but as I walked toward the back of the store all of my guilt went away. There were multiple aisles full of healthy vegetarian and vegan food at this GNC. There were frozen fake meats, dressings and oils, spices, snacks, drinks, meal bars, nut butters, instant meals and soups, cereals, and so much more! And everything was a good deal!

On top of the already low prices, I have a GNC Gold Card that gives me an additional 20 percent off during the first week of each month. Plus, GNC’s policy is to put food items on clearance a few months before the expiration date. I bought all of the food in this picture - six Simply Asia noodle meals, a bag of cereal, two jars of almond butter, and ten meal bars - for $12!

Sigh. I love GNC.

Just last Thursday I asked my friend if there was a difference between the dandelion greens that you buy in the grocery store and the ones that grow wild alongside every sidewalk in Philly. Her response? “The ones in the store probably don’t have dog pee on them.”

It seemed a logical question to me, and, unfortunately, a logical answer. But still, I can’t bring myself to pay for something that I pass by everyday.

Apparently I’m not the only one on this train of thought as the weather warms and the tasty plants start growing all around: The Best of Raw Food just posted “Wild Edible Plants”, a look at which wild plants are okay to eat and what considerations need to be taken. Check it out to learn about wild strawberries, dandelions, lambsquarters, nettle, clover, garlic mustards, daisies, greater plantains, and grasses.

I am embarrassed to confess that I just watched some of E!’s 101 Celebrity Slimdowns, but I have to admit that in order to share some of the awesome things that the comedians and fitness pros said.

At least two people included on the list - Alicia Silverstone and Tobey Maguire - had veganism connected to their weight change (I am proud to say that I did not watch all 101 weighty stories). Alicia went from average girl skinny to celebrity woman skinny when she became vegan. On the flip side of the scale, Tobey’s story was about how he muscled up for his role as Spider-Man.

It’s more accepted by the general public (read: non-veg folks) that vegans are skinny than that vegans can be ripped. So I was certainly pleased when the commentators response was fairly positive.

Two male comedians commented went for the easy target, tofu, but did so in a very animal rights-ish way: Tofu is nasty. I mean, not as nasty as killing, plucking, cooking, and eating an animal, but it’s pretty nasty (quote paraphrased from memory).

Aussie speaker, trainer, and nutritionist Susan Powter pointed out that it is harder, but not impossible to gain muscle mass on a purely plant-based diet: People think you can’t bulk up and can’t get protein from a vegan diet, but they’re wrong (again, paraphrased from instant recall).

If you still don’t believe that you can lose fat and gain muscle on a strict vegan diet, check out these pages:

* VeganFitness.net
* Vegan Bodybuilding blog and Vegan Bodybuilding Web site
* The Vegan Fitness Team

Eccentric Vegan compiled a great resource post, called “Dear Non-Vegans,” all about why meat, eggs, all other animal products are not healthy, humane, or environmentally friendly on Vegan Soapbox. I don’t often cross-post someone else’s writings, but this a very good list of information. So check it out:

10 billion land animals die every year for your unhealthy habits. In the US alone, 10 billion land animals are raised and killed for meat, eggs, and milk every year. For comparison’s sake: In the US, 3 to 4 million companion animals (pets) are killed in shelters every year.

Meat, eggs, and dairy are NOT healthy foods.
Proof:

• http://www.cancerproject.org/diet_cancer/facts/meat.php
• http://www.thechinastudy.com/PDFs/ChinaStudy_Excerpt.pdf
• http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodborneinfections_g.htm#mostcommon
• http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/11/20/131453/95

Meat, eggs, and dairy are NOT sustainable foods.
Proof:

• http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/fast-food-anoth.html
• http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.htm
• http://www.sustainabletable.com/issues/factoryfarming/
• http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/environment.html
• http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/31673/title/It%E2%80%99s_the_meat_not_the_miles
• http://www.humanemyth.org/faq/1127.htm

Meat, eggs, and dairy are NOT humane foods:
Proof:

• http://meat.org/
• http://www.humanemyth.org/
• http://www.vegansoapbox.com/8-disturbing-animal-videos/

PLEASE stop making animals suffer for your unhealthy, unsustainable, cruel habits.

If you’re looking for my ideas to help you make the switch from being a meat eater to being a vegetarian (or, better yet, vegan), consider requesting a free packet of info including recipes, cruelty-free substitutes for non-veg items, and more from your favorite animal rights non-profit. Many organizations offer these starter packs and kits, such as Mercy for Animals and Compassion Over Killing.

A free starter pack that I haven’t mentioned before is the one provided by the Humane League of Philadelphia. This free starter pack contains a Veg Starter Kit, Recipe Book, Veg Eating Guide, Veg Nutrition booklet, and DVD. The Humane League also has a great vegetarian resources page that includes links to even more recipes, replacements, and vegetarian info.

As always, you should also feel free to ask me any questions!

“Is a vegan diet healthy?” is a common question, particularly amongst people contemplating a change. Here are answers from four popular, non-vegan, Q&A Web sites, columns, and health resources.

CNN diet and fitness expert Dr. Melina Jampolis says:
“Overall, vegan diets (diets containing no animal products) can be very healthy. They are generally much lower in saturated fat and cholesterol than animal-based diets, which include meat, eggs and dairy. Research suggests that replacing a percentage of the saturated fat in your diet with plant-based proteins such as beans, tofu, and nuts can significantly reduce a number of heart disease risk factors including high blood pressure and high cholesterol. In addition, several studies have found that very low meat consumption is associated with a significantly lower risk of death. …”

The Mayo Clinic says:
“A well-planned vegetarian diet is a healthy way to meet your nutritional needs. … Adopting a healthy vegetarian diet isn’t as simple as scraping meat off your plate and eating what’s left. You need to take extra steps to ensure you’re meeting your daily nutritional needs. …”

Healthline says:
“… A well-planned vegan diet can be nutritionally adequate, even for children and pregnant and lactating women. However, it is important that wise food selections are made. …”

And USASearch.gov, the search engine for all governmental departments, says:
“Did you mean began diet”?

Most of these, except for the ever helpful government, sum up my thoughts. Simply following vegan guidelines of leaving out animal products will not constitute a healthy, nutritious diet. There are plenty of junk foods that are vegan. But, a healthy vegan diet has been proven to have more health benefits and less related problems than a healthy meat-based one.

To help grasp what constitutes a “healthy” vegan diet, here is a vegan food pyramid from the Vegan Coach.

There was an article in the New York Times last week about the carbon emissions of meat production - As More Eat Meat, Bid to Cut Emissions - but more than just the title was clunky about this confused piece.

The charts and graphs, shown at the bottom of this post, were good: it was what drew me to read more. From the pictorial alone, it is clear that produce and other non-animal foodstuffs result in less carbon than animal ones. But I just couldn’t get past the opening sentence:

“The cows and pigs dotting these flat green plains in the southern Netherlands create a bucolic landscape.”

Now look at the picture that ran next to this idealistic, countryside description:

Hmm … I detect a bit of disconnect. Did the writer see the picture before he wrote the intro? Perhaps it more aptly should read:

The cows and pigs lying on hard, cold, concrete floors, amongst their own feces, create an unappetizing scene.

While cleaning off and sorting through my bookshelves the other day, in my semi-annual “where am I going to put all these books?!” panic, I realized that I was still holding on to several non-vegetarian cookbooks. I flipped through and decided that none of them had enough veg-friendly recipes to make them keepers. So into the “get rid of these” pile they went.

But what do you do with a recipe book you don’t want anymore? If it were just magazines, I would recycle them so as not to encourage cooking with meat. But I am pretty sure it’s a sin to throw a book away.

I offered them to friends and family; no one had space or need for more recipe books. I took some of the large, heavy ones to my local library and left them on the “free” table.

But with the ones that were could be shipped for a reasonable rate - keeping in mind that you can get a discounted book rate - I posted online at PaperBack Swap.

PaperBack Swap (PBS), and its related site“> Swap a DVD, are communities where you can post books or movies to swap with other members.

I posted my non-veggie cookbooks and waited. PBS e-mailed me when someone else was interested in one of my books. I printed postage from the PBS site, mailed it out, and received credit that I could use to request books that I wanted. PBS even has a vegetarian section underneath the Cooking, Food & Wine search option - so you can trade in your meaty recipe books for tofu ones!

I’ve been contemplating ordering some food, beauty products, and such from Amazon.com, as they have quite a large selection of vegan replacements, snacks, drinks, and general yumminess. But after getting on an independent business kick yesterday on the fiction site that I write - GenreFiction.net, I’ve decided to hunt down other, smaller online stores that carry vegan goods.

To save you a similar quest, here are some of the stores that I’ve found. Please note, however, that I have not ordered from any of these … yet.

* Vegan Essentials currently boasts over 1,200 all-vegan products including books, personal care items, foodstuffs, clothing, and baby’s needs.

* The Vegan Store is home to Pangea products and numerous other brands in realms such as body care, clothes, vitamins, books, and snacks. Chocolate lovers will not be disappointed!

* Ethical Planet has all the vegan essentials, plus yoga and meditation needs, paper products, recycled goods, aromatherapy, and cleaning products.

* Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe also carries all the basics, plus frozen foods, vegan gift ideas, and supplements.

* Choose Veg, which is run by Mercy for Animals, has a vegan shopping page with even more links.

* The PETA Mall has an extensive collection of vegan- and vegetarian-friendly online stores organized by category, such as apparel, food, toys, and more. The Mall also offers occasional discount codes and free shipping offers exclusive to PETA Mall shoppers.

Let me know if I missed a good one, or if you have ordered from any of these places and can offer feedback. Happy vegan shopping!